CA CA - Linda Sohus, 28, San Marino, 8 February 1985

[i.b.nora]

The Vanity Fair article talks about the green card wedding.

When he first came to America, he stayed briefly in Meriden, Connecticut with the family he had first met (and charmed) in Europe. From there, he placed an ad for lodging and ended up with the Savio family in Berlin, Connecticut.

When they kicked him out, "He gave himself a new name. “He’d become Chris Kenneth Gerhart by the time he left us,” says Savio. Soon he was at the University of Wisconsin, on the Milwaukee campus, where he studied film, and where, he told the Savios in a phone call, he planned to vote for Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election. “But you’re not an American citizen!” one of them exclaimed. Not a problem, he said; he would soon have a green card and become a legal resident.

“We were in a class together, studying film noir,” remembers Todd Lassa, now a writer for Motor Trend, who was a witness at Chris Gerhart’s quickie courthouse wedding, in 1981, when they were both undergraduates. The bride was a woman Gerhart didn’t know well, and they were divorced soon after he got his green card. Several weeks after the wedding, he stopped showing up for his classes. Soon his old friend Edward Savio, who was living in Los Angeles, got a phone call from the immigrant his family had kicked out of their house. He had just arrived in L.A., he said, and wanted to say hello. He was going into the film business."

 

[fran]

Mar. 15, 2011
'Rockefeller' to lawyer: I didn't kill Calif man

About two months ago, investigators used new technology to conclusively identify Sohus' remains and cold-case investigators assembled "overwhelming" evidence that had been collected over the years, Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. He declined to provide details.

"It was just old-fashioned, shoe-leather police work combined with technology," Whitmore said. "Detectives just never give up."

Investigators determined he was killed by blunt force trauma to the head. Linda Sohus remains missing.

In 1988, California authorities tried unsuccessfully to track down someone using another one of Gerhartsreiter's aliases - Christopher Crowe- who was in Connecticut trying to sell a pickup truck that belonged to Jonathan and Linda Sohus.

Denner said Gerhartsreiter bought the truck from Jonathan Sohus' mother and it was never reported stolen.

Robison, of the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, wouldn't say whether any new evidence had led prosecutors to charge him with murder.

"They looked at the totality of the evidence, and they believe it is enough to file on," she said.



Read more: http://www.modbee.com/2011/03/15/1600456/rockefeller-impostor-charged-with.html##ixzz1HBZZKitJ

 

[oceanblueeyes]

‘Clark Rockefeller’ to go to California on murder charge
By O’Ryan Johnson
Thursday, May 19, 2011 - Updated 43 minutes ago

http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1339147

 

[Reader]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma..._charge_awaits_man_who_took_rockefeller_name/

ALHAMBRA, Calif.—Evidence in the California murder case against a German man who posed as an heir to the Rockefeller fortune includes a fractured skull and bones wrapped in a bag from a university in Wisconsin, where the defendant was married in 1981.

Los Angeles County prosecutors called forensic witnesses Wednesday to testify about the bones in a hearing to determine if Christian Gerhartsreiter (GAYR'-hahrtz-ry-tur) will stand trial for murder.

Authorities say the bones have been matched to John Sohus, a computer engineer who disappeared in 1985. They were unearthed in 1994 in wealthy San Marino, where Gerhartsreiter allegedly lived under the name Chris Chichester.

Gerhartsreiter was previously convicted of kidnapping his own daughter in Boston, where he had lived as Clark Rockefeller.
------

Sohus' wife, Linda, also disappeared in 1985. No trace of her was found, though postcards purportedly written by her in France were sent to friends and relatives after she disappeared. The handwriting was never authenticated. Authorities presume she is dead, but they have not charged Gerhartsreiter with her death.

The other person who disappeared from San Marino at about the same time was the tenant known as Chichester.

Police explored various possibilities, including that Chichester had been in love with Linda Sohus and murdered her husband in a fit of jealousy. Authorities came close to finding him in the late 1980s when he was pulled over in Greenwich, Conn., driving Sohus' truck. But by the time the Department of Motor Vehicles had confirmed it was Sohus' truck, Chichester and the vehicle had vanished.


More at link....

 

[HMSHood]

Clark Rockefeller, err Christian Gerhartsreiter, is not just a many of mysteries, he is a murderer. :crazy:

 

[mysteriew]

This one has been a lonnnnngggg time coming. I remember when he kidnapped his little girl.

 

[mysteriew]

Previous threads

http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68064&highlight=Gerhartsreiter


http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68500&highlight=clark+rockefeller

 

[waltzingmatilda]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ler-appears-court-1985-California-murder.html

 

[Reader]

Police witnesses called in fake 'Rockefeller' case

http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?id=18789279&ps=1011&cat=&cps=0&lang=en&page=1

ALHAMBRA, Calif. (AP) — A witness in the murder case against a man who posed as an heir to the Rockefeller fortune testified Thursday that he loaned the defendant a chainsaw while the two were living in San Marino in the 1980s.

William Stewart, now a Superior Court judge, said he was a lawyer when he met Christian Gerhartsreiter, then known as Christopher Chichester, at his church.

In late 1984 or early 1985, Chichester asked to borrow an electric chainsaw from him, according to Stewart.

"He said he had a problem with a branch on a tree that was scratching a window," Stewart said.

He said Chichester kept the tool for several months, returning it just before leaving town in the spring of 1985.
-------

Lili Hadsell, now police chief of Baldwin Park, said she had many contacts with Ruth Sohus as a patrol officer in San Marino.

"Every time I went out there it escalated and escalated," she said. "It started out that she reported they were gone but wasn't super concerned. She believed they were working."

At one point, Hadsell said, Ruth Sohus stated that the couple was working for the parents of a man living in their guesthouse who was known as Christopher Chichester.
-----

He would be eligible for parole this year if he was not facing the California charge, which could bring him 26 years to life in prison if he is convicted.


More at link....

 

[Reader]

Witness in 'Rockefeller' case found bloodstains

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2017293620_apusrockefellermystery.html

A forensic scientist testifying Friday in the murder case against a man who posed as an heir to the Rockefeller fortune said she found four bloodstains in the Southern California guesthouse where the suspect lived.
-------

Herold said three of the four stains showed patterns indicating they had been wiped or something like a body had been dragged through them.

She said she did not take a blood sample because in 1994 such a stain could not be tested for DNA analysis, and it may never be known whose blood it was.


More at link...

 

[Reader]

Prosecution ready to wind up preliminary hearing

http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?rip_id=<D9SF43KG0@news.ap.org>&ps=1011

ALHAMBRA, Calif. (AP) — A man who masqueraded as a Rockefeller and is now accused of murder was confronted in court Monday by witnesses who said he tried to sell them an Oriental rug with a blood spot............

Brown said he called his wife to look at a small Oriental rug.

"She looked at it, and said, `Chris, this has blood on it.' He fairly quickly rolled it back up and left with it," Brown said, adding that his wife suggested a place he could take it to be cleaned.

Brown said Chichester, who was then pretending to be an instructor at the University of Southern California's film school, showed up on another occasion asking how to dispose of photo processing chemicals.

Chichester had told the Browns that he was descended from English peerage and was related to a famed British sailor of the same last name. He had also given them tea, saying it came from his family's Indonesian tea plantation.
---------

Christopher Bishop, an Episcopal priest from Greenwich, Conn., testified that he met the man he knew as Christopher Crowe in 1985 when he appeared at the church where Bishop's father was the priest............

Crowe told Bishop that he was the brother of well-known film director Cameron Crowe and had been to film school in California. He said he was in Connecticut to produce the new "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" series, Bishop said.

"Did you believe it?" asked prosecutor Habib Balian.

"Yes," the witness said. "I gave him a screenplay I had written and he had critiqued it. He certainly was conversant in film."


Lots more at link....

 

[Reader]

http://news.yahoo.com/rockefeller-imposter-ordered-stand-trial-murder-040536492.html

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A German man who once posed as a member of the wealthy Rockefeller family was ordered on Tuesday to stand trial for murder in the 1985 death of his landlord and neighbor.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jared Moses' decision to hold Christian Gerhartsreiter, 50, for trial followed five days of testimony during a preliminary hearing.

The purpose of the hearing, which was held in the Los Angeles suburb of Alhambra, was to determine if there was enough evidence to merit a trial.

Los Angeles prosecutors in March 2011 charged Gerhartsreiter with murdering John Sohus in 1985 by using a blunt object. He pleaded not guilty, and his attorney has said that he continues to maintain his innocence.


More at link....

 

[fhc]

http://www.telegram.com/article/20130310/NEWS/130319978/1116

Jury selection to begin in Rockefeller murder trial

It nears its end Monday in the confines of a maximum-security downtown Los Angeles courtroom. There, jury selection will begin in the murder trial of Christian Gerhartsreiter, 52, a German national who once posed as a Rockefeller and moved among the elite

 

[fran]

Jury selection begins in 'Clark Rockefeller' murder trial

March 11, 2013

Like the Wizard of Oz, a man born in a German village was a master of illusion, taking on many names before becoming the self-proclaimed Boston socialite Clark Rockefeller with a lifestyle to match.

But Christian Gerhartsreiter's illusions came at a deadly price, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Habib Balian said. With jury selection starting Monday in the three-decade-old slaying of John Sohus, the man of many names will mostly be referred to as "the defendant."

full article at link .................... http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2013/03/clark-rockefeller-jury-selection-murder-trial.html




Found this article from January. Oh great! They MAY blame the wife?!

Good grief!

JMHO
fran


ANOTHER example of how murderers can blame the victim because they're not here to defend themselves! I HOPE the jury doesn't believe a word this :liar: says!



Rockefeller impostor's defense may focus on victim's wife

Attorneys representing a man accused in a three-decade-old death ask witnesses about the relationship and size difference between the victim and his missing wife

full article at link ................. http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/21/local/la-me-rockefeller-20120121

 

[fran]

Jury selected in fake Rockefeller case

LOS ANGELES - A jury of five men and seven women will hear testimony in the trial of a man who posed as Clark Rockefeller and is accused of a 1985 murder.


Read more: http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_22801107/jury-selected-fake-rockefeller-case#ixzz2NjFqka8O

 

[fran]

Opening statements expected Monday in Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter murder trial in Los Angeles

‘Rockefeller’ accused of killing man who disappeared in 1985

full article at link ............... http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...los-angeles/NE9htlt1NhR4YB2VxoGHcO/story.html

 

[xin]

Hi. Went to the trial today it's
The People of California
vs
Christian Gerhartsreiter
[aka Clark Rockefeller]
This will be a fascinating case. I hope we get some more followers; not going tomorrow but will be there Wednesday.

 

[xin]

Meant to headline: Tonight at Boston.com
Not to confuse; the trial for murder is in Los Angeles.
Report on today in court:

http://boston.com/2013/03/19/witnes...ictim-bones/3rOzuik2gCbIDL7L0dRzTP/story.html

 

[dotr]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...an-gerhartsreiter-murder-trial_n_2997510.html
"LOS ANGELES -- Prosecutors are close to wrapping up the murder trial of a Rockefeller impostor in the 1985 killing of a California man, and the cold case mainly rests on circumstantial evidence, the strange behavior of the defendant and the grim discovery of a bag of bones.

With no witnesses to the crime, little forensic evidence and no explanation for why the German man masquerading as Clark Rockefeller would have killed his landlady's son, it's a tough case to prove"

 

[xin]

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_...d=fbc_566051736760588_6571983_566218133410615

A couple of us have been going to the trial and were there today. Sandra Boss (the defendant's ex-wife) was the Alpha witness of the trial (really an Alpha witness for most trials I've attended). Intense and riveting.
What an interesting trial--

We will write up some of our courtroom notes for those of you who are interested. These articles, while good, as usual, only scratch the surface.
For today, we are picking Frank's article; we are in court with him, and he has a good new book out, "The Name-Dropper."

We'll have our notes up soon. Court dark through Monday when closing arguments occur. Where are you Bostonian web sleuths?

Big interest in Germany and London is covering via AP. Linda Deutsch, the great AP Trial writer, is in court. Fairly lightly attended trial (we like).